This invention relates to a medical picture filing system for pictures obtained by means of an endoscope or the like.
Recently, a medical picture filing system has been developed as a link in the chain of a medical system, in which a large amount of pictures obtained by examinations are filed into a memory unit, and a desired picture to be used is taken out from the memory unit on the basis of retrieving data. This filing system has been utilized for controlling charts.
In this kind of medical picture filing system, the retrieving data is composed of a plurality of retrieving item data such as data concerning the name of a patient, gender, the date of birth, the date of examination, the name of a disease, the name of a diseased portion, and the name of the doctor in charge, and an address data representing the location in the memory unit where the picture data is stored in correspondence with the item data. Both of these data, constituting the retrieving data, are stored in a retrieving data storing portion.
Since the item data such as gender and date of birth are individual to each patient, classification of the retrieving data by patient and control thereof can realize a reduction in the amount of retrieving data and the retrieving time by compiling common items. For this reason, retrieving data are usually controlled in units, one unit including all the data for a single patient.
A method for retrieving medical picture data by using a display unit which is called World View/User View has been proposed, in which visual retrieval is conducted with respect to an abstract picture which is displayed in the world view and the result is displayed in the user view. In this case, since the range of retrieval must to some extent be narrowed down in advance at the time of retrieval in the world view, the picture data are also classified and controlled by patient, whereby the abstract picture of the relevant patient is displayed in the world view.
Recently, however, there has been a growing tendency to take a plurality of pictures during one medical examination, and especially in an examination using an endoscope, several tens of pictures are taken at one examination. When such a large number of pictures obtained at one examination are classified and controlled in accordance with a conventional medical picture filing system, it is necessary to attach to each picture retrieving item data such as the date of examination, the name of disease and the name of the doctor in charge, which are common to each picture at the time of the examination, before each picture is stored in the retrieving data storing portion. As a result, the amount of retrieving data to be stored becomes inconveniently bulky, and hence a long time is required for retrieval of the pictures on the basis of this retrieving data.